New ‘Shout Outs!’ Girl Scout Cookies are sensibly sweet

“Shout Outs!,” this year’s new Girl Scout Cookie, is sure to have everyone talking. The Belgian-style caramelized cookie has zero grams of trans fat per serving, no hydrogenated oils, no artificial colors or preservatives, and no high fructose corn syrup. Its ingredients are similar to what you might find in your own kitchen: flour, sugar, vegetable oil, brown sugar, vanilla and spices.

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Support for “Corn Sugar” Growing

Support from corn grower organizations to use the term “corn sugar” instead of high fructose corn syrup is growing.

The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) recently sent a letter to the Food and Drug Administration supporting use of the term ‘corn sugar,’ and other state organizations such as the Texas Corn Growers have also voiced their support.

“We are calling upon the FDA to eliminate the confusion of the safety of high fructose corn syrup,” NCGA President Bart Schott said. “Permitting use of the term ‘corn sugar’ on labels will allow manufactures to more clearly describe high fructose corn syrup as a natural ingredient, nutritionally equivalent to sugar.”

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High Fructose Corn Syrup: What's the Big Deal?

The most disturbing fact is the genetic technology employed in growing modern corn.

High Fructose Corn Syrup has been rising in the food debates as of late, but why? It comes from corn, right? So it's natural. They're always telling us sugar is bad, so wouldn't this be better than sugar, or at least the same? It seems like every label I read has it, so could it really be harmful?

To look into this debate I started reading (and watching) information about high fructose corn syrup and what it is. I read Michael Pollan books and watched documentaries such as Food, Inc and King Corn.

Before this education, I assumed genetic modification of crops was perfectly fine. After all, don't cultivators all do this? They breed one animal with another to get offspring with certain characteristics: color, size, etc. They breed flowers to have a certain color or scent or size. Even nature adapts animals and plants with certain characteristics to assimilate with the surrounding environment. So why would the same technology be harmful for crops that we eat? Wouldn't it merely be an improvement just like natural adaptation?

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Establishment Runs Defense For High Fructose Corn Syrup

While doing some research on High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) or as it will likely be renamed in the future to ‘Corn Sugar’, AP was hard at work spinning the facts. In the article Corn Syrup Producers Want Sweeter Name: Corn Sugar an AP Marketing Writer presents the same tired old arguments to counter consumer’s well founded concern over the corn based product.

The article, disguised as an informational piece is nothing more than an infomercial. Like the agenda behind those annoying TV spots from a few years ago where two people discuss HFCS but soon come to the conclusion there is absolutely nothing wrong with the ‘natural’ product, this article is nothing more than a last ditch effort to confuse consumers.

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High Fructose Corn Syrup - Two reasons to avoid this Corn Sugar

The move is on to further muddy the waters pertaining to High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). The goal is to convince or confuse consumers into thinking that HFCS is like sugar by changing its name to Corn Sugar. While there are issues that surround processed sugar, HFCS or Corn Sugar presents a wider problem. The primary concern is how HFCS is metabolized by the body and the hidden, and not-so-hidden, genetic modifications it undergoes.

HFCS is comprised of approximately 55% fructose. This fructose is unbound meaning it is not attached to any other molecule. In nature fructose would be bound most likely to glucose. Unbound fructose is immediately taken up by the liver for metabolizing when HFCS is consumed. This initiates a metabolic nightmare. The liver is forced to work hard at metabolizing the instantly present fructose. Often times the liver has to ignore or inefficiently handle other metabolic duties such as the breaking down of fatty acids. In addition, the liver may be unable to metabolize all of the fructose. All of this leads to a fatty liver and increased fat storage in the body.

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Big Food’s Message to the EPA: Don’t Mess With Corn

If anyone ever needed further evidence that corn is the most important and widely used element in the food supply, here it is: On Tuesday, no fewer than nine food industry groups banded together (along with oil companies) to sue the EPA over its decision last month to boost the allowable amount of corn-based ethanol in vehicle fuel from 10% to 20%.

Corn is a sacred crop for food companies, because without it there would be a whole lot less processed food and meat would probably get a whole lot more expensive. Corn-based ingredients like modified corn starch, maltodextrin, propylene glycol, glycerin, citric acid, xantham gum and, of course, high fructose corn syrup are the building blocks of products ranging from breakfast cereal and salad dressing to chicken nuggets and ice cream.

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High-fructose corn syrup in soda has much more fructose than advertised, study finds

But some of the stuff they put in soda isn't HFCS, it's RHFCS — really high-fructose corn syrup.

High-fructose corn syrup is often singled out as Food Enemy No. 1 because it has become ubiquitous in processed foods during about the past 30 years — a period that coincides with a steep rise in obesity. One of the primary sources of high-fructose corn syrup in the American diet is soda. In fact, many public health advocates refer to soda as "liquid candy."

High-fructose corn syrup in soda has much more fructose than advertised, study finds
That nickname is more apt than advocates realized, according to a study published online in October by the journal Obesity.

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PARTNER SERIES—THE TRUE COSTS OF SWITCHING FROM HFCS TO SUGAR

Enough Said: "Content developed and sponsored by: Corn Naturally". The bastards are running scared when they are putting together dog and pony shows like this.

How much can switching sweetening ingredients (such as a switch from high fructose corn syrup to granulated or liquid sugar) impact costs for food and beverage manufacturers? And does switching sweeteners pay off at retail? The increased ingredient costs are only the beginning. This one-hour Webinar will help marketers and product formulators consider implications before making decisions that could impact the bottom line.

The Webinar will examine formulary, labor and sanitation expenses, as well as capital expenditures and the possible costs associated with the environmental implications of switching sweeteners. It will also explore sales data from Nielsen, looking specifically at brands that have reformulated from HFCS to sugar and comparing pre- and post-reformulation data. A live question-and-answer session will follow.

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Study: Hey, Hipsters, Mexican Coke Might Be a Myth

The failure to find sucrose in Mexican Coca-Cola could be [due] to two reasons: the Coke is old and the sucrose "inverted" (split into glucose and fructose), or the company used HFCS instead of sucrose.

A study released on Oct. 27 in the journal Obesity looked at the chemical structure of sweeteners in Coca-Cola, Pepsi and other sodas. There were a lot of surprising findings, but for now, here's one result that cut close to my Brooklyn-foodie fad-loving bones: Mexican Coke, which people thought to be superior to American Coke because it uses real cane sugar in place of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), could be a myth.

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Corn processors regain 'whip hand' in price talks

The power in the annual round of talks to set prices of corn sweeteners has returned to processors such as Archer Daniels Midland and Tate & Lyle, leaving buyers on track for price rises of up to 25%.

The proportion of plant capacity in use among makers of high fructose corn syrup looks set to tick up to 85%, thanks to resilient US sales of the sweetener and a doubling in exports to Mexico, Credit Suisse said.

This extra usage means that "the whip hand in annual negotiations swings towards the sellers", the bank said, adding that the outcome of the talks "will be fine" for corn processors.

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